An elite producer over the course of the 2023 season, where does Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II stand in the 2025 NFL Draft with his scouting report? How does Gordon rise above in what should be a stacked RB class?
Ollie Gordon II’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’2″
- Weight: 215 pounds
- Position: Running Back
- School: Oklahoma State
- Current Year: Junior
Gordon was relatively obscure at one time. In the 2022 recruiting cycle, he was a four-star recruit at his highest, with some three-star labels across the board. He signed with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and was primarily a backup for the 2022 season.
Still, a 136-yard outing late in Gordon’s true freshman campaign gave onlookers a taste of what could be in store in 2023. And by the end of the 2023 campaign, Gordon’s era of obscurity had officially come to an end.
Across a dominant 14-game 2023 season, Gordon accumulated 1,732 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns on 285 carries, averaging over six yards per attempt. He also caught 39 passes for 330 yards and an additional score, eclipsing 2,000 total yards from scrimmage.
Gordon reached the 100-yard mark on nine occasions, including five 150+ yard performances. Three times, he scored at least three TDs — and his efforts ultimately won him the 2023 Doak Walker Award, given to the nation’s best RB.
Not only is Gordon the defending Doak Walker Award winner, he’s also the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, and he’s coming off a unanimous All-American campaign. And along the way, he’s piqued the interest of evaluators in the 2025 NFL Draft.
At this stage, what does Gordon — who’ll be just 21 years old as an NFL rookie if he declares — bring to the table as an RB prospect? Can he fight to be RB1 and join exclusive company in Round 1?
Gordon’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Sports a tall, somewhat wiry frame with impressive lean mass and stride freedom.
- Extremely unique prototype runner with long-strider range and short-area malleability.
- Has hyper-elite bend and cutting flexibility and can sink suddenly and violently on cuts.
- Supremely agile, fluid, and adaptable athlete with a full situational toolbox of moves.
- Prodigious open-field creator for his size, using bends and spins to swim through space.
- Can use quick, precise corrective footwork in the backfield to align himself to gaps.
- Able to evade early contact threats and create for himself with acute angle diversions.
- With swivel flexibility and vision, can adjust positioning and quickly trigger on creases.
- Elite processor who uses setup space to his advantage and habitually senses windows.
- Has great explosiveness once he sees lanes and can throttle up to attack open seams.
- Can utilize his bend to disrupt and warp tackling angles in open field, then stack cuts.
- Scrapes through solo tackles with strength and physicality and has powerful leg churn.
- Can use diamond technique to secure passes and quickly reset his feet for RAC.
- Has an excellent RAC framework and knows how to make himself available as a receiver.
- Physical chip and lead blocker, and an active, alert pass protector who can patrol gaps.
Weaknesses
- Has great long-strider burst but functions better with runways to accelerate.
- With taller frame, naturally plays a bit tall in space at times, impacting leverage.
- Sometimes diverts too far upright with pad level on cuts, allowing defenders into frame.
- Occasionally tries to do too much in the backfield, wasting motion and missing lanes.
- On occasion, overcommits to lateral running paths and misses open cutback chances.
- Doesn’t quite have elite mass and won’t always bowl through successive tackles.
- Lacks quantifiably elite contact balance and can be wrangled by sound solo tackles.
- Visibly lacks elite breakaway speed and maxes out relatively quickly in open field.
- Can make a more concerted effort to keep his pads low to maximize deep speed.
- Has some alignment versatility as a receiver but can still expand his route tree.
- Experiences occasional lapses in ball security when finishing (two fumbles in 2023).
- Sometimes resorts to cut blocks, dropping to the ground and removing himself.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Gordon grades out as a mid-to-late first-round prospect. Given the deflated positional value of RBs, he could ultimately slip into Round 2. But on my scale, Gordon is worth first-round capital. As of now, if there’s any RB in the 2025 NFL Draft I’d target in Round 1, it’d be Gordon.
The Oklahoma State standout is an incredibly unique runner, in that he has the long-strider explosiveness, range, and physicality you’d expect from a 6’2″, 215-pound back — but he couples that with rare stride freedom, cutting flexibility, twitch, short-area malleability, and bend.
As both a mover and a processor, Gordon is extremely adaptable, with high-level fluidity, creative instincts, spatial IQ, and vision. He can work efficiently behind the line but also has the improvisational ability to evade early contact threats, create for himself, and carve out paths upfield.
Going further, Gordon is a capable volume runner with great energy and stamina and some phase versatility. As a receiver, he can line up in different spots, make himself available, and provide value as a RAC threat. As a blocker, he’s alert and more than willing, and his tools serve him well.
Gordon’s willingness to be a team player — both as a blocker and a source of misdirection on play-action fakes — is an added bonus within his profile. But his main appeal comes from the elite creative instincts, complete rushing profile, and receiving versatility he brings to the fold.
Early in his NFL career, Gordon can be a three-down volume back with two-phase utility. He can run gap or zone schemes, create in congested boxes, glide through open space, and finish with physicality. Ultimately, Gordon has the full pallet of tools to be an offensive engine on the ground and a versatile, dynamic impact starter.
